Dora Lee (Gravity) by ROSETTA WEST mixes the bold and the beautiful in this new blues-rock banger. The artist crafts this beautiful narrative about a military commander and his interaction with a deity. The track blends the two worlds beautifully with a varied tonal palette which ebbs and flows far more than I expected. The video is also an excellent depiction of the struggle the commander goes through with really solid acting from our lead protagonist.

The track’s most striking aspect is the guitar. From the very start, we’re hit with this wall of crunchy distortion and fuzz. It builds tension from the outset and establishes the blues-rock tone wonderfully. It also has a great level of detail between the distortion, with these cinematic and creative runs that expand upon the melody. Beyond this, the track’s bread and butter is this rhythmic plucking which lays the foundation for the track’s melody and rhythm at the same time. The heavy distortion lends the piece a sense of confidence which bolsters the vocals, heightening their tone with a rugged, melodic backbone. The vocals are coarse and emotionally resonant at the same time, managing to convey the complex journey of the track without compromising the aggressive rock feel it has established up until that point. I think this dichotomy is purposeful. It feels like the war commander is torn between the life of violence that he has found himself in and the world of benevolent love and pleasure that he has discovered in this brief contact with the deity. This musical clash comes to a point in the latter third of the track when all the auxiliary musical instruments are stripped away and the guitar slows. During this moment, the vocals and guitar alone are left to ponder what to do between violence and love. This moment is not about discovering an answer but instead asking the question. I am very impressed by how articulately ROSETTA WEST pits these two concepts against each other, this duality is what makes Dora Lee (Gravity) such an engaging piece.